UCL Institute of Archaeology

Peter Drewett (1947-2013)

5 April 2013

Institute staff, students, friends and
colleagues will be saddened to hear of the death of Peter Drewett on 1 April.

Peter Drewett was an integral member of the
Institute of Archaeology for many years. He set up
and directed the Sussex Archaeological Field Unit (now Archaeology South-East)
from 1973-91 and was Head of the Department of Prehistory at the Institute of Archaeology from 1991-93. He
established the Institute’s Experimental Archaeology fieldcourse for new
undergraduate students (affectionately known as 'PrimTech') which still takes
place today.

Peter monitored, supervised and directed
the excavation of some of the UK’s most important prehistoric and historic
monuments throughout the 1960s and from 1970-73 was an Assistant Inspector of
Ancient Monuments. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
in 1977 and was also an elected founder member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists
(1983). He received his PhD in Prehistoric Archaeology from the Institute in
1986.

His impressive publication
record included more than nine books on UK archaeology, Caribbean
archaeology and his bestseller academic book entitled Field Archaeology,
which has had multiple reprints.

Peter conducted his
academic career with an exceptional parallel commitment to public duty, both at
a community level – for example as Chair and then President of the Sussex Archaeological Society
as well as in public education and at a national and international level - as an
Advisor on Public Policy both in the UK and abroad. In all of his projects he
actively involved local volunteers and gave numerous public lectures while his contribution to training both UK and overseas field archaeologists
should not be underestimated.

Peter left the Institute, after 31 years,
in 2004 to take up the post of Professor of Archaeology at the University of Sussex and was Emeritus Professor in
their Centre for Community Engagement at the time of his death.

As one of Peter’s Institute colleagues has
indicated:

Peter Drewett was an exceptional and wide
reaching academic who brought his knowledge to the support of the wider
community in providing education opportunities…and impacting upon public
heritage management and policy in local, national and international
contexts. This commitment was maintained tirelessly throughout his life.

Our thoughts go out to his family at this
difficult time.

Obituary

An obituary was published in The Times on 9 May 2013 (subscription required)